The War On Poverty 50 Years Later: What Has Changed?

The War on Poverty is still being fought 50 years later, and we have yet to make any real strides on the majority of Americans being able to live above the poverty line. Topics of whether the minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour and how to help Americans keep up with the cost of living are brought into question.

In a panel discussion on “NewsOne Now,” attorney Barbara Arnwine, Elizabeth Omilami of Hosea Feed the Hungry, Lauren Burke of Crew of 42, NAACP’s Kim Keenan, minister Alveda King, and Chanelle Hardy of the National Urban League discuss the war on poverty and ways it can be demolished. Starting with children and better free lunch might be one of most needed solutions to ending poverty.

“Hungry children cannot learn, and many children that we work with don’t eat from free lunch on Friday to free lunch on Monday,” said Omilami. “When they do get free lunch in the school, it’s a frozen hot dog and something that you wouldn’t want to eat and give your dog. So what we’re looking at is the money comes in, [and] it’s grabbed by the bureaucrats in the state… The teachers, the parents, the social workers, they are not involved in the process and in the answers.”